Many diagnostic tests rely on the use of thermal cyclers to carry out a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) type amplification of nucleic acids. PCR allows specific nucleotide sequences to be amplified in a sample, thereby allowing detection of sequences which may otherwise be present in the sample at very low levels. Sequences may be detected for example by use of labelled probes, or by determining thermal hybridisation profiles. However, the cycling steps and the detection steps tend to be sequence- or test-specific. It is necessary therefore either to have a cycler which is freely programmable, leading to increased complexity of operation and greater potential for user error, or which has a restricted set of permissible operations, leading to limited flexibility and problems in extending operation to different tests.
This constraint is particularly difficult in PCR applications because the program and result is multifactorial, the thermal profile may be different for each test, and the results will differ from target to target.
It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an alternative method for operating a thermal cycler which reduces or avoids these disadvantages.
Certain aspects of the present invention integrate the programming and reporting of diagnostic assays through RFID and create a full auditing trail for future reference. It enables different assays to be run on the same platform without the need to store all possible tests or for the user to ‘program’ the test parameters which would complicate the system. In preferred embodiments, operation is via a single button process.